48 Hours Season 39 premiere examines a father’s murder conviction and a detective’s unusual discovery

The 48 Hours Season 39 premiere will feature a special double episode that covers two intense crime stories. The first story, The Corn Rake Witness, is about a son, Trysten Mullis, who tried to overturn his father's murder conviction, and the second story, Everett Cold Case Murders, is about a sharp detective who made an unusual discovery using chewing gum.

According to Court TV, Trysten's written testimony and an earlier deposition were included in the legal application package, which was prepared and submitted by his father's appellate lawyers. The defense presented forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers, who suggested that Todd's wife, Amy Mullis, could have died accidentally by falling onto a corn rake twice. Despite these arguments, Judge Laura Parrish ruled that Todd's original trial counsel acted appropriately and officially denied the motion, upholding the conviction.

CNN reported that undercover officers used a clever ruse involving chewing gum to get a direct DNA sample from Mitchell Gaff, who murdered Susan Vesey and Judith Weaver. Posing as market researchers conducting a product survey, the detectives knocked on Gaff's door and asked him to test a new flavor of chewing gum.

The detectives then handed him a small dish to discard the gum so that they could secure his saliva sample. Analysts compared his DNA with evidence from the murder cases that happened decades earlier and confirmed the match. That evidence led to Gaff's guilty plea.

Continue reading more about the 48 Hours Season 39 premiere.

48 Hours Season 39 Premiere: Todd Mullis's murder conviction

48 Hours Season 39 is set to examine the Corn Rake Witness case that convicted murderer Todd Mullis would not receive another trial after an Iowa judge rejected his request for post-conviction relief. Todd was serving a life sentence in prison after being found guilty of killing his wife, Amy Mullis, at their home in 2018.

In March 2025, Todd returned to court for a multi-day hearing on post-conviction relief. His new appellate lawyers brought forward 11 witnesses to testify in person, and they also submitted deposition testimony from 28 additional individuals. The appeal raised more than 100 claims of ineffective assistance of counsel connected to his 2019 trial. After more than a year of review, Judge Laura Parrish denied the motion.

The medical examiner ruled Amy's death a homicide after observing that the corn rake had four tines, but the victim’s back showed six puncture wounds. Additional injuries were also found on her chin, cheekbone, knees, and knuckles. Assistant state medical examiner Dr. Kelly Kruse testified that the wound patterns matched the victim being struck with the corn rake at least twice, and possibly three times.

At the 2025 post‑conviction relief hearing, forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers agreed that Amy died from injuries caused by the corn rake, but she concluded that the death was accidental.

Trysten firmly maintained that his mother's death was a tragic farming accident rather than an intentional ambush. He argued that his mother accidentally fell onto a heavy-duty, four-tine corn rake and challenged the state's conviction of his father.

48 Hours Season 39 Premiere: Discarded chewing gum helped detectives to solve a double homicide case

The second hour of the 48 Hours Season 39 premiere will feature Everett Cold Case Murders, a remarkable story of how an undercover officer, Susan Logothetti, and her two colleagues solved the murder cases of Susan Vesey and Judith Weaver with the help of a piece of chewing gum discarded by the killer, Mitchell Gaff.

As per CNN, in January 2024, Susan and her two colleagues stood outside Gaff's yellow house in Everett as market researchers. They told Gaff that they came from a chewing gum company and asked him to taste the product. Gaff tested different sticks of gum with enthusiasm. When it was time to try a new flavor, one colleague held out a small dish. Susan recalled,

"I remember watching him spit the first piece of gum into the ramekin and seeing the saliva, and it was very hard for me to contain my excitement."

After 40 years of Weaver's murder, forensic experts determined that the DNA taken from the gum matched evidence collected from her body. This discovery marked a major breakthrough in the investigations and demonstrated the vital role of modern DNA technology in solving cold cases.

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